Fernando Burges: our goal is to overcome obstacles to travel abroad for the population of Abkhazia

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25.04.2019 20:56

The RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the participation of the delegation of the Organization of Non-Represented Nations and Peoples held a press conference.

Sukhum. 25 April. Apsnypress. Representatives of the delegation of the Organization of Unrepresented Peoples and Nations told about the purpose of the visit to Abkhazia and the issues they discussed with the Abkhaz side at a press conference at the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Deputy Foreign Minister Irakli Tuzhba reminded that Abkhazia has been a member of UNPO since 1991. “We are actively cooperating with this organization. In March of this year, thanks to the support and assistance of representatives of the UNPO, for the first time in many years we managed to hold a series of meetings in the European Parliament with deputies and political analysts. We told how Abkhazia is developing today, about the problems of mutual relations and current negotiations with Georgia. ”

At the same time, Tuzhba stressed that the main goal of the meetings in the European Parliament was to focus European deputies on humanitarian issues related to human rights, and, in particular, to restrict freedom of movement for citizens of Abkhazia: “According to our estimates in Abkhazia today, about 25-30% of citizens, mostly young people who are citizens of Abkhazia, but do not have a second citizenship - Russian. And for such people the possibility of moving around the world is seriously limited. We are currently working to raise the question of the possibility of using an Abkhaz passport to travel around Europe. We are talking about Europe for the moment, and then about other countries of the world. We have studied this question, there are already such precedents in Europe. For example, Schengen visas are stamped in Kosovo passports. Slovakia decided, without recognizing Kosovo, to give people the opportunity to travel around the country with Kosovo passports. "

For his part, the head of the UNPO’s policy and research department, Fernando Burges, spoke about the organization: “If we talk about our core activities, it is generally based on protecting the rights of nations and peoples and their desire for self-determination. Our organization includes 45 nations and nations that are refused to be represented in the international arena. ”

Burges said that the mission of the delegation in Abkhazia is to understand the problems of the country's self-determination: “Not everyone was able to realize their plans, like Abkhazia. There are countries and nations that are satisfied with the confederation version. If we talk about self-determination within the walls of the UN, then this topic is less desirable for discussion and becomes more and more taboo. To achieve our goals, we use solidarity and try to strengthen it. We have two goals: the first is to strengthen the positions of members of our organization, in this case, Abkhazia, and the second goal is to try to help solve the problems of Abkhazia that are systematic, in particular, the problem of freedom of movement. "

Fernando Burges said: “Considering that the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry delegation was recently in Brussels, we jointly had the opportunity to define the freedom of movement as a practical problem that requires a solution. We also identified specific ways to solve this problem and, being here in Abkhazia, we identified several examples where young people did not have the opportunity to go abroad. We communicate with these people, get information from them, find out what difficulties they face. During our stay in Abkhazia, we will prepare a report on this topic, which we will then present in the appropriate places and bodies in Brussels. We will lobby for this issue in the European Parliament with the ultimate goal - to further overcome the obstacles to travel abroad for the population of Abkhazia. If we did not believe in the successful solution of the problem, we would not have begun this work. We are planning to prepare this report in the fall of this year. ”

In addition, as reported by the coordinator for lobbying for UNPO, Lucia Parrucci, tomorrow the delegation will hold a training for young Abkhaz diplomats.

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